My Educational Journey

I was one of the lucky ones. I was born into a family full of teachers, including both of my parents, so learning was fostered from the beginning. By the age of four I could already read. And I remember that when I was young, my parents would play The

Alphabet Game with us (my brother Malcolm, cousins, and me) on car trips and would encourage us to beat the cash register with the correct amount of change. If we did, we got to keep the coins. We did not know it then, but they were giving us essential tools for learning. To this day, I am a whiz at mental math when my friends have to take out calculators. But I will not attribute all my success to the adults in my life. Undoubtedly, they had their impact. However, you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. I played an active role in my educational journey as well.

From a young age, I have known that I am very smart. When I entered kindergarten, I remember being highly unamused by the songs the teacher played to teach us the sounds of the letters. I could already read. So my parents and the teacher sat down and discussed what to do to challenge and stimulate me. They set up a sort of bridge program where I went to a first grade classroom until their lunchtime, then went to my p.m. kindergarten class. I loved the time I spent in Mr. Hooker’s first grade class, and thankfully the other children welcomed me. It was soon determined that I should be skipped. I only actually spent forty-four days in kindergarten. First grade was a blast; Mr. Hooker could not have been a more wonderful match for me. I scored in the ninety-ninth percentile on my standardized tests that year, and from there I hit the ground running.

In the second grade I went to a private school where I was in a combination class with third and fourth graders. My teacher would always have me do the lessons with the fourth graders. I tested Gifted that year and the next year entered the Magnet program at Baldwin Hills Elementary School. I was finally in classes full of other children of equal intellect. We read Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone in the third grade! And in the fifth grade, we did extensive research and presented a report on the different body systems.

Middle school was a breeze to me. I was in a Gifted Magnet, so all the children in my classes were Gifted as well. I got straight A’s all three years, because by that point I had determined to be the best. It was also during these years that I came into my social graces. Until eighth grade, I was awkward, preferring to read in the classroom at nutrition and lunch than to go out with my classmates and play. Needless to say, the other children generally did not much like me. I still cannot explain exactly what happened, but that year I figured out how to be both academically and socially excellent, which has been an invaluable lesson.

Then I went to high school, and it was a whole new world! I remember freshman year as vividly as though it were just last week. In my first month at Westchester High School, I discovered the Academic Recognition Night. For each grade level, if a student has earned a 3.5 or higher cumulative grade point average, they are given special recognition and awards at Academic Recognition Night. The twelfth graders receive a (free!) letterman’s jacket. I determined right then that I would be on that stage to receive my jacket in my senior year.

In high school, I took only the most rigorous course load offered. I took AP classes every year starting in the tenth grade. Some course my school only offered every other year, so those I took at a local community college through a dual enrollment program. Of course, I did not allow my extra-curriculars to suffer. I firmly believe that being smart is not enough, one must be more than just good test scores. I played sports all four years, and was named Varsity Captain of both my Cross Country and Track and

Field teams. I was a College Peer Counselor. I got involved with California’s Youth and Government Model Legislature and Court program. I also joined my School’s We Volunteer for Westchester Club, and volunteered over two hundred hours one summer as a Counselor-in-Training at the local YMCA. I graduated tied for third in my class, with a grade point average of 4.3. I was a National Achievement Scholarship Finalist and an AP Scholar with Distinction, as well as being on the President’s Honor Roll all four years. And, I got my Academic Jacket! In fact, with all the credits I transferred over from AP tests I passed and community college classes I took, I am

already classified as a sophomore in college. And I was invited to join the College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program.

I decided to come to Howard University mainly for the money that they offered me. I did not know much about the school, but that they had a reputation for churningout the best and the brightest. I have a cousin who is an alumna, and practically everyone I talked to about this school knows of at least one Howard success story. Since I have been here, I have been intrigued by the sheer excellence surrounding me. People from all walks of life have

been and are currently being molded into greatness here. It is hard to be so far from home, but I am sure that this will be a growing experience like no other, and I will be rewarded beyond measure for all my hard work.